Hotel App Development - 3 Innovative Ideas to Beat The Competition!

Gone are the days when travelers used to consult with a local travel agency to book their next trip. Today, travelers strive to be independent. They want to have complete control over everything, from choosing their next destination & booking a hotel room to buying tickets online, all by themselves.

And since these self-reliant travelers almost always have smartphones in their pockets, it creates a perfect opportunity for hotel owners to provide easy access to their hotel services through mobile app development.

In fact, the worldwide market for online hotel booking has expected to reach over $174 Million US dollars by 2022, according to statista.

Not only that, but a research done by Criteo also revealed the following data:

45% of bookings for OTA (Online Travel Agency) fall on smartphones.

80% of last-minute hotel bookings are done through mobile apps.

The conversion rate of mobile apps is 5 times higher than websites.

The above stats clearly prove that mobile bookings have become the ultimate way for travelers to book a hotel.

Benefits of Hotel App Development for Hotel Business Owners

If you’re still not convinced, we would like you to consider following hotel app benefits.

1 – Mobility Advantage

The mobility advantage not only benefits your customers in booking hotel rooms on-the-go, but it also allows you to conduct your business anytime and anywhere in the world.

2 – Efficient Communication Channel

In any industry, the more communication channels you’ve, the better it is for your business. And the Hotel industry is no different. Hotel app development allows you to add an extra communication channel in your business through which you can give an instant reaction to customers comments and questions. As a result, you create a positive impact on your customers which ultimately helps in building a good reputation of your hotel brand.

3 – Enhanced Service Quality

As mentioned above, a hotel app helps you in learning more about customer behavior and receive important feedback. That means, you’ll learn a lot about what your customers or potential customers think about your hotel service. While the truth won’t always be pleasant, but you will at least find out shortcomings in your hotel service and be able to correct it for improving your service quality.

4 – Beating The Competition

Hotel apps are on the rise. More and more hotel businesses and chains are building their own mobile app to attract more customers and turn them into loyal ones. That means, if you’ve not already planned to develop a hotel app for your business, chances are the growth of your hotel will be dimmed. That means the only way for your business to stand out and beat the competition is by building a hotel booking app.

So, now that you know all the benefits of hotel app development, let’s discuss the 3 hotel app development ideas and see which would fit your business best.

3 Hotel Booking App Ideas

Do you already have an idea for Hotel Booking App? Let’s discuss your requirements and estimated project cost.

1 – Hotel Booking Aggregation App

Once a user chooses the best option from the given hotel list, he automatically gets redirected to the corresponding platform for the payment.

The best example of this type of app would be Booking.com.

This kind of hotel booking app is perfect for Entrepreneurs who do not own any hotel business but wants to launch a mobile app in the hotel industry.

2 – App for Hotel Chains

Source: Hyatt

This kind of hotel app is often developed by popular hotel chains like Marriot, Hyatt, and so on. That means you should only consider developing this kind of hotel booking app if you own a hotel chain business.

The reason is that these hotel apps usually have a whole different set of functionalities than common hotel booking apps. For instance, a hotel chain mobile app allows its guests to make special requests through their hotel app during their stay.

The best example of this type of hotel app is Marriot BonVoy.

3 – Hybrid Hotel App

Source: Expedia

The Hybrid hotel reservation app is something that combines the functionalities of both above-mentioned types.

Simply put, you can allow users to either choose from a list of online hotel booking services or booking a room in a hotel owned by you. This kind of hotel app is best for small hotel business owners.

In fact, if you really think about it, developing a hybrid hotel app makes more sense. Firstly, you will attract a huge amount of users to download your mobile app. Secondly, because your hotel reservation app will be downloaded by a wide range of travelers and not just your regular customers, brand awareness of your hotel business will increase exponentially.

Now, choosing which type of hotel app you want to build is entirely up to your requirements and goals. Irrespective of the type, it’s critical to also know about the monetization options all these hotel app types offer.

Hotel App Monetization Options

1 – Advertisements

Advertisements help users in finding nearby events, offers, and events. And since people spend lavishly on vacations, placing advertisements in your hotel booking app can be very beneficial.

You can use extra revenue by either Google Adsense or contacting other hotel owners and let them place their hotel ads in your mobile app.

2 – Commissions

If you do not wish to bombard users with advertisements, you can opt for commission business model.

In this model, you can earn money by simply charging a commission to a hotel for each guest that booked their hotel room through your mobile app. This business model is perfect for hotel booking aggregation apps.

This model neither charges any commission money from hotels not it displays any advertisements. However, you can still earn money from your hotel app by offering some extra features like permission to post more photos or listing a specific hotel on top of the list for a fixed amount of time.

This business model does not only make your hotel app much cleaner in terms of the user interface, but you attract more hotels to list their property on your mobile app platform.

As a result, your app exposure is boosted as registration for users as well as hotel owners are free of charge which ultimately results in more app downloads in the App Stores.

Bottom Line is…

In today’s competitive market, no hotel business can afford not building a mobile app. The rise of mobile apps has changed the way business gets done in the hotel industry.

Hotel booking apps have not brought more opportunities to serve customers better, but they’ve also proven to be the greatest solution to attract more customers and increase revenue.

About Author

Sagar Sharma

Sagar holds the position of Chief Technology Officer at Credencys and is responsible for all the technical operations, as well as leading the company’s revolutionary offerings.

Sagar has two main areas of focus - Technology and Processes. He has worked in leadership positions in various Fortune 50 companies and has been instrumental in driving success through digital transformation. He is also an enthusiastic Agile Coach.

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